Public Transit News / Current Events (MN only)

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EOst
Capella Tower
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Re: Public Transit News and Current Happenings

Postby EOst » May 18th, 2018, 5:38 pm

Have definitely heard it discussed since. But glad it's not happening!

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Nick
Capella Tower
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Location: Downtown, Minneapolis

Re: Public Transit News and Current Happenings

Postby Nick » May 21st, 2018, 10:56 pm

Wasn’t splitting the 4 into a north and south route supposed to happen sometime soon? That was in the service improvement plan a couple years ago but have not heard much about it since.
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Bakken2016
Wells Fargo Center
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Joined: September 20th, 2017, 12:40 pm
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Re: Public Transit News and Current Happenings

Postby Bakken2016 » May 22nd, 2018, 8:27 am

Wasn’t splitting the 4 into a north and south route supposed to happen sometime soon? That was in the service improvement plan a couple years ago but have not heard much about it since.
I assuming the funds didn't line up to split the route. I would like to see this happen soon though.

xandrex
Wells Fargo Center
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Re: Public Transit News and Current Happenings

Postby xandrex » May 22nd, 2018, 8:31 am

It's probably good to split up a busy route like this for timing's sake, but I hate that the 4/15 split will continue to solidify our hub-and-spoke system.

nmin
Block E
Posts: 13
Joined: May 23rd, 2017, 12:35 pm

Re: Public Transit News and Current Happenings

Postby nmin » May 22nd, 2018, 12:48 pm

The proposed split erodes mobility and should not be implemented. There are many visually impaired residents in near NE and Marcy-Holmes, now we're going to permanently force them to transfer on the way to services in Whittier and The Wedge? Why not talk more seriously about transit lanes on Hennepin in DT to improve reliability instead of treating the symptom and reducing the ability of our system to serve the people that rely on it the most. If a change just be implemented, the NE end should continue past MCTC to Lyn-Lake or the S Mpls end should continue over the river to 8th St SE.

We don't tell car drivers that they need to park their car halfway to their destination and then get in a different car to finish. A transportation equity approach says we should prioritize how we treat transit riders, and the proposal to split the 4 isn't that.

mattaudio
Stone Arch Bridge
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Re: Public Transit News and Current Happenings

Postby mattaudio » May 22nd, 2018, 3:19 pm

Seems like the best outcome is to through-route buses through downtown, but only have one long tail. This preserves most of the one-seat origin/destination pairs (sorry if you want a one seat ride from Silver Lake Village to Southtown, though). And it allows routes to overlap on the busiest corridors in the densest urban areas. And could undo some branching while we're at it!

MNdible
is great.
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Re: Public Transit News and Current Happenings

Postby MNdible » May 22nd, 2018, 4:05 pm

Yep, agree that this is the best approach. The only downside to this is that it will complicate layovers, etc.

Silophant
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Re: Public Transit News and Current Happenings

Postby Silophant » May 22nd, 2018, 5:47 pm

I could see the 15 going down to Lake and winding up at the Uptown Transit Center. Not sure what a good endpoint/layover spot would be for the north end of the 4, though. 8th & 10th in Marcy-Holmes?
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Tcmetro
Wells Fargo Center
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Location: Chicago (ex-Minneapolitan)

Re: Public Transit News and Current Happenings

Postby Tcmetro » May 22nd, 2018, 6:17 pm

IIRC the SW LRT bus plan has the 15 ending at the Van White station.

timbrack
Block E
Posts: 6
Joined: June 7th, 2017, 6:17 pm

Re: Public Transit News and Current Happenings

Postby timbrack » May 25th, 2018, 7:59 pm

I'm hoping the schedule update on the 32 will make a difference. Some of the worst late times I've ever seen occur on this route--consistently running 20+ minutes late during evening rush. Also, I'm very happy I no longer have to walk to Whole Foods when I leave First Ave to catch the 14 northbound. :)

SamtheBusNerd
City Center
Posts: 42
Joined: August 20th, 2015, 10:54 am

Re: Public Transit News and Current Happenings

Postby SamtheBusNerd » May 29th, 2018, 3:34 pm

Not sure if this is the right spot for this, but has anyone tried to ride the 21/53 since they closed Lake St due to the fire? Today it's taken slightly longer than forever to get around the detour. Seems like this would be an ideal time for the city to try some temporary traffic control techniques and set up a formal detour...

DanPatchToget
Wells Fargo Center
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Re: Public Transit News and Current Happenings

Postby DanPatchToget » June 8th, 2018, 8:48 pm

Rode the 539 today, and the bus before mine rear ended a car at Old Shakopee & Xerxes. Didn't look like there were any injuries and the only damage was to the bike rack. The riders on that bus had to wait half an hour for the bus I was on. First Transit's bus garage is in St. Paul, so it wouldn't help sending a replacement bus from that far away but it would be nice if there was a way for First Transit to contact Metro Transit and send a bus from the South Garage.

SamtheBusNerd
City Center
Posts: 42
Joined: August 20th, 2015, 10:54 am

Re: Public Transit News and Current Happenings

Postby SamtheBusNerd » June 9th, 2018, 7:38 pm

The 539 can't be run with anything longer than a 30' bus due to all of the tight turns so it wouldn't have helped much unfortunately. Metro doesn't have any 30' or cutaway buses.

DanPatchToget
Wells Fargo Center
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Re: Public Transit News and Current Happenings

Postby DanPatchToget » June 9th, 2018, 8:21 pm

Besides Valley West and Creekside Community Center I don't see any place where a 40 foot bus would have difficulty on that route, plus it would only be a temporary sub so people don't have to wait 30 minutes for the next bus going east. Also there was a brief period a couple years ago when I saw 35 foot buses on Route 539, but I don't know the difference in turning radius between the 35 and 40 foot buses.

Silophant
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Re: Public Transit News and Current Happenings

Postby Silophant » June 20th, 2018, 6:52 am

Does anyone have any idea why the moving of northbound Route 14 from 4th St to 7th St didn't end up happening?
Joey Senkyr
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Bakken2016
Wells Fargo Center
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Location: North Loop

Re: Public Transit News and Current Happenings

Postby Bakken2016 » June 20th, 2018, 7:00 am

Does anyone have any idea why the moving of northbound Route 14 from 4th St to 7th St didn't end up happening?
35W Construction is what Metro Transit cited, they didn't want to put another bus on 7th due to the increased traffic jams.

Tcmetro
Wells Fargo Center
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Re: Public Transit News and Current Happenings

Postby Tcmetro » June 24th, 2018, 9:26 am

Metro Council published 2017 ridership data by stop on the Minnesota Geospatial Commons a few months ago.

Top 10 bus routes (average weekday ridership):

5 - 16,389
21 - 12,760
18 - 10,357
6 - 9,417
3 - 7,786
19 - 7,737
10 - 7,377
2 - 7,223
22 - 6,315
4 - 6,290

Transitways:

Green Line - 46,222
Blue Line - 32,125
A Line - 5,356
Northstar - 2,964
Red Line - 871

Amending post with ridership by station for Blue and Green Lines:

Target Field - 1,930/1,657 (Green/Blue)
Hennepin Ave - 3,015/2,472 (Green/Blue)
Nicollet Mall - 1,978/2,176 (Green/Blue)
Gov't Plaza - 1,829/2,013 (Green/Blue)
US Bank Stadium - 2,774/2,903 (Green/Blue)
Cedar Riverside - 943
Franklin - 1,628
Lake - 2,534
38th - 1,602
46th - 1,690
50th/Minnehaha Pk - 590
VA Hospital - 800
Ft Snelling - 1,226
Terminal 1 - 3,560
Terminal 2 - 2,171
American Blvd - 256
Bloomington Central - 220
28th Ave - 919
Mall of America - 2,764
West Bank - 2,967
East Bank - 5,955
Stadium Village - 3,172
Prospect Park - 959
Westgate - 1,571
Raymond -1,366
Fairview - 1,306
Snelling - 2,627
Hamline - 1,928
Lexington - 1,647
Victoria - 814
Dale - 1,482
Western - 834
Rice - 1,430
Robert/14th - 943
10th St - 1,141
Central (St. Paul) - 2,817
Union Depot - 1,737

EOst
Capella Tower
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Location: Saint Paul

Re: Public Transit News and Current Happenings

Postby EOst » June 24th, 2018, 11:08 am

That's an astonishing number of riders on the Green Line. Between Green and Blue, METRO is already matching or exceeding the entire Denver RTA light rail system with 1/3 the miles. If Bottineau and SWLRT were built and only managed 20k daily riders each (well below projections) METRO would come close to Portland's MAX.

Silophant
Moderator
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Location: Whimsical NE

Re: Public Transit News and Current Happenings

Postby Silophant » June 24th, 2018, 12:03 pm

Man, American Boulevard and Bloomington Central were really not worth building.

I'm also surprised that ridership is that low at Cedar-Riverside.
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phop
Landmark Center
Posts: 207
Joined: May 28th, 2013, 8:58 pm
Location: Minneapolis

Re: Public Transit News and Current Happenings

Postby phop » June 24th, 2018, 12:45 pm

Heartening to see the add-on (Hamline, Victoria, Western) Green Line stations continuing to post solid to great ridership.


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